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Only 100 or so Wildcat fans, including about 30 students, attended the Wildcat football game at Elk River last Friday night.  That’s smaller than the crowd that usually attends  away games.  And the fans, students and school administrators who stayed away missed a game that was pretty entertaining for much of the evening.

The Wildcats surprised everyone in attendance – the large Elk River crowd, the Wildcat faithful and the Elk River team – by making a game of this one.  The game was tied 14-14 at the half.  The Wildcats returned the opening kickoff of the second half to their own 23 and drove down the field.  They had the Elks back on their heels and it looked like the Wildcats were going to eat some time off the clock and score.  But on third and three from the Elk River 35, the Wildcats fumbled on the handoff and Elk River recovered, which turned out to be the key play of the game.  The Elks went 65 yards in two plays to go up 21-14.  The Elks scored once more in the third quarter and twice in the fourth quarter to win the game 41-14.

Wildcat head coach Bill Weiss said, “We kind of knew, going into the week, that this was one of those games where we were going to have to play nearly perfect football to give ourselves a chance to win.  We couldn’t afford to make any turnovers and had to create some ourselves.  And it turned out that the one turnover we made proved to be too much to overcome.”

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard first as they took advantage of an early opportunity handed to them.  The Elks began the game’s opening drive on their own 21 yard line.  On third and three from the 28, Ethan Greene tackled the Elk River runner for a one yard loss.  Elk River decided to go for it on fourth and four from their own 27.  They used their usual deception and ran a play up the middle, right smack into Gabe Taylor, who tackled the runner after a gain of two.  

The Elks had turned the ball over to the Wildcats on downs deep in their own territory.  And the Wildcats wasted little time taking advantage of the opportunity.  After two runs by quarterback Ethan Hickcox and two offsides penalties on the Elks, the Wildcats faced second and three from the ten.  Hickcox faked a handoff up the middle, cut to the right at a 45 degree angle and ran into the end zone untouched as the right side of the Wildcat line sealed off any pursuit.  Bryce Thompson kicked the extra point and the Wildcats led 7-0 with eight minutes left in the first quarter.

Wildcat defensive back Trevin Nelson promptly stripped ER quarterback Trent Pink of the ball and fell on it at midfield to once again give the Wildcats good field position.  
But the Wildcats didn’t take advantage of the turnover, going three and out.  Dylan Wood’s punt was downed at the Elk River 15 yard line.  
The Elks went on a nine play drive that ate up most of the rest of the first quarter.  Elk running back Kyle Ziemer took the handoff and burst up the middle 15 yards for a touchdown.  After the Wildcats went offsides on the extra point attempt, the Elks decided to go for two.  They shoved it in to the end zone from the one and a half yard line to go up 8-7 with 11 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Elks rolled the ensuing kickoff down to the 25.  Andrew Harrington picked the ball up and returned it to the Wildcat 42.  On second and nine from the Wildcats 43,  tight end Carter Duncan was wide open ten yards beyond the last Elk defender about 25 yards downfield.  But Hickcox’s pass fell incomplete several yards to Duncan’s right.
 “I’m not sure if it was the receiver or the throw,” said Weiss.  “The bottom line is that we could have connected on that one.  But as the season goes on, our timing will get better and we should be able to capitalize on an opportunity like that.  I’d like to believe that by week eight a play like that will almost be an automatic connection.”
After the Wildcats went three and out on the next drive, the Elks took over on their own 24.  It took them three plays to score.  

The big play was a 63 yard run by running back Nick Rice that gave Elk River a first down at the Wildcat ten.  Sam Gibas scored for the Elks on the next play and, after a failed two point conversion, the Elks led 14-7 just two minutes into the second quarter.  The Wildcats moved the ball on their next drive, highlighted by a 21 yard run by Hickcox.  The Wildcats decided to go for it on fourth and 11 from the Elk 28.  Hickcox tried a quarterback draw, but was pulled down after a gain of 8 and the Elks took over.  Five plays later, the Elks had first down at midfield.  Rice took the handoff, was hit and fumbled.  Wildcat linebacker Jack Roth recovered the ball at the Chisago Lakes 45 and the Wildcats were back in business with 2:37 left in the first half.  After eight plays and two timeouts, the Wildcats faced first and ten at the Elk 30 with 29 seconds left in the half.  

Ethan Hickcox dropped back to pass and spotted his brother Arran coming open down the middle of the field.  Ethan rifled a perfect pass into Arran’s hands at the three yard line.  Aaran caught it in stride and stepped into the end zone for a touchdown.  

But then, at the beginning of the third quarter, came the Wildcat fumble and quick Elk touchdown.  After holding the Wildcats to three and out, the Elks took over after Wood’s punt was downed at the Elk River 25 with six minutes left in the third quarter.  The Elks went on an 11 play drive that ate up the rest of the third quarter and culminated in a 23 yard touchdown pass from Pink to Ziemer to make the score 27-14.  The Wildcats were held to three and out again on their next possession.  The Elks went 73 yards in five plays.  Rice ran the ball in from the 18 and the Elks led 35-14 with eight minutes to go.  The Wildcats moved the ball deep into Elk River territory on their next possession with the help of key runs from Ethan Hickcox, Nelson and fullback Drake Gadbois.  But on fourth and six from the Elk River 15, Hickcox dropped back to pass and was immediately swarmed under by a herd of Elks, turning the ball over on downs.  The Elks added one more touchdown to make the final score Elk River 41, Chisago Lakes 14.

“While we were disappointed with the loss,” said Weiss, “we took some positive things away from the game.  We are still a young, inexperienced team.  Their head coach told me before the game that this was the best team he’s had in the five years he’s been there.  It’s tough when you have to play a high powered team like Elk River early in the season.  But we took some steps forward and came out of the game a better team.”

One of the things that the Wildcats had to contend with was the misdirection in the Elks’ offense.  The Elks execute several fakes on nearly every play, so it’s very hard to keep track of who actually has the ball.  Weiss said “Even the officials have a hard time with the misdirection.  We assigned certain guys to watch specific guys on their team to try to slow them down that way and had some success.”

Weiss talked about some of the players who played well for the Wildcats.  He said “Defensive linemen Ethan Greene and Jax Ebbenga were assigned to plug up the A gaps.  It’s not a very glamorous role and what they did all night will never show up on a stat sheet, but they played very well and did their job.  Dylan Wood also played well on the line and made a lot of tackles for us.  Ethan played a nice game at quarterback and it was nice to see the Hickcox connection on the touchdown pass at the end of the first half.”
 
Ethan Hickcox had 14 carries for 88 yards and Gadbois carried the ball 12 times for 67 yards.  And, Hickcox completed five of 12 passes for 47 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.
 
Upcoming
The Wildcats will host their closest rival, the North Branch Vikings, tomorrow night (Sept 4) at 7 p.m. at Chisago Lakes High School.  “Against Grand Rapids in week one they showed some explosiveness and the ability to score from anywhere on the field,” Weiss said. “Grand Rapids runs an option offense similar to ours and North Branch had some success defending against it, so we will have our work cut out for us on offense.  We are looking forward to this one because it’s almost always a good game.”

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